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Unconventional Wisdom

 

The University of Sydney Political Economy Society (or ECOPsoc to all) is a student run society affiliated to the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

Run by and for Political Economy students, ECOPsoc hosts both occasional and weekly events, providing a space for students to discuss Political Economy in settings beyond the tutorial or lecture theatre. With an active executive and well attended events, ECOPsoc represents a populous and pluralistic space of discussion, debate, thought and engagement.

ECOPsoc acts as a hub and platform for heterodox and anti-capitalist critiques of orthodox economics, a space to discuss and analyse contemporary issues, both globally and specific to the political economy of Australia. Bringing together students from different academic and personal backgrounds, ECOPsoc is a venue for diverse, engaged, interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches to Political Economy.

Through the ‘Unconventional Wisdom’ initiative, ECOPsoc aims to create a space for the best of student-led Political Economy writing, both as a showcase of the richness of thought on offer and a platform for further discussion and dialogue with Political Economy scholars within the University and worldwide.

      
 

UPSWELL Journal

Ruby Halliday | October 3, 2023

The Political Economy Society at the University of Sydney are putting out a call for interest on their upcoming student led ‘UPSWELL’ journal. If you have experience or want to be involved, join us on Wednesday 4th Oct 6PM to hear our ideas, contribute yours, and create a vision [...]

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From ‘New Imperialism’ to ‘New Cold War’

Machaon Smeaton | July 4, 2023

A new era of antagonism between the US and China has emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is seen in the mounting rhetoric of "strategic competition" escalating military expenditures and efforts at alliance building such as AUKUS. Increasingly important are the US's efforts to [...]

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Can divestment save us?

Swapnik Sanagavarapu | November 1, 2022

In recent years, the climate movement has adopted a strategy of pressuring institutions to divest from their holdings of fossil fuel related shares. Divestment is certainly an enticing proposition for otherwise powerless activists – the idea that such a simple financial decision could [...]

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Roadblocks in Australia’s Inevitable Energy Transition

Antonia Flowers | October 27, 2020

Australia is currently undergoing what is acknowledged to be the fastest energy transition in the world. In the face of this rapid and uncertain transformational change, the federal government is pushing for a ‘gas-led recovery’ and a Technology Investment Roadmap that explicitly excludes [...]

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2020 JAPE Young Scholar Award: Applications Open

Frank Stilwell | October 15, 2020

Each year the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) offers a $2000 prize to encourage young scholars to convert their research work into a publishable article.

‘Young’ in this context is defined in terms of the experience of the applicant. Applicants may be of any age, [...]

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Peter Thiel’s Zero to One explains why ‘big tech’ dominates

Seb Wrangles | August 25, 2020

Peter Thiel is many things. A staunch libertarian, he is the billionaire Founder of PayPal and Palintir, an early investor in Facebook, and confidant to the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The small group of colleagues he had at PayPal’s inception left to form companies like YouTube, [...]

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Pandemic as symptom: COVID-19 and human-animal relations under capitalism

Bella Devine-Poulos | August 13, 2020

Zoonotic disease pandemics such as COVID-19 present us with an opportunity to reframe how we understand capitalism by visibilising the role animals are forced to play in its processes, and the forms and spaces of human-animal contact that are dominant in our world. The [...]

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Reflections from Honours in Political Economy

Riki Scanlan | June 26, 2018

This set of reflections concludes this series of “five minute honours theses” produced by members of the 2017 Political Economy Honours cohort. The motivation for running this series emerged from the desire to see our research and ideas reach a broader audience than a couple of markers and [...]

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